As a Jamaican passport holder, aka a Jamaican citizen, there aren’t many countries I can travel to without a visa.
Luckily the Philippines is one of those places.
A Filipino friend of mine that I used to hangout with in Japan invited a mutual friend and I to his wedding. He has always been inviting us to the Philippines but we always said we needed a reason. We used to say “if you get married, we will come.” We thought he'd never get married..not because of his looks or anything but because we thought he wasn't that type of guy.
At first my friend and I were if-ing and but-ing about the trip:
We don't have the time!
We gotta watch our kids!
We have work!
Can we afford it?
All these self sabotaging questions! Eventually we mustered up the courage to book the tickets, but we bought them from a shady looking Chinese site called "LY.COM". We didn't book through them directly but the travel site we used directed us there.
This worked out though and we got our two way tickets for ¥31,000 ($210). According to Filipino peeps we asked, these tickets were dirt cheap.
So finally my friend and I were on our way to the Philippines. We have talked about travelling around without the fam and here we are finally doing it. Why wait till retirement to start living life? What if it never comes or you never make it?
The first thing that caught my attention about Manila was how congested the city was. It was actually worse than Kingston, Jamaica. Cars and bikes everywhere. And one thing I noticed was that most of the bikers were basically watching videos on social media while the navigation arrow guided them to their next location. There was no chill in Manil, busy busy busy.
I was also surprised at the amount of fast food chains here. I literally saw two Jolly Bees franchises 100 m apart from each other.... WTF.
Speaking about Jolly Bees? I tried it, I hated it. I really don't see the big deal. The texture of the fried chicken is great, the taste, not so much. The chicken tasted bland and the main taste was vegetable oil. The mango pies from Jolly Bees and the spaghetti were good though.
Manila reminds me of a blend of Tokyo ( high rise buildings, highways, huge malls, party life, hostess bars and karaoke,) and Jamaica ( the slums,people out and about hustling from every corner, great nightlife, loud noises and not the safest place in the world).
Even the people of the Philippines remind me of a blend of Japanese and Jamaicans. Like literally the way they look, the way they speak, the friendly vibes and laughter. Maybe I am over exaggerating a bit.
It was wonderful. It was my first time actually being a grooms man. I missed a lot of chances living in Japan while friends and fam got married in Jamaica and the states. I even missed my best friend's wedding, and he wanted me to be the best man.
One thing I must say is that it was a glamorous wedding. They had the video and camera crew following the bride, brides maids and the groom and grooms men around, doing photo shoots and videos all day. We were like actors in this wedding movie is how I would describe it. They even had drone footage of the church. I was like "DAMN this is what weddings have become!!?" It was like a social media packaged wedding ready to be shared with the world through cinematic shots.
The dress code was classy as well, only traditional Filipino special occasion attire and that meant Barong shirts for the men and the female version is called a Baro't Saya ( which literally means blouse and skirt).
The Philippines was experiencing an extended rainy season which lasted for weeks and we were right in the hear of it. It literally rained everyday we were there. But luckily at the time of the wedding, the rain eased up. But we had cancel our planned beach trip the next day. No worries though as we did a lot on Manila in the short time we had there ( 3 days ).
A lot of our time in Manila was spent in the church. The wedding, then to see the various historical churches in the area. We wanted to see some architectural stuff and I guess this was as good as it gets. To be honest I did not expect such grand churches in Manila but then I remembered, the Spanish were here.
One thing that I found very interesting in the culture was how family members lived together (cousins, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters ) all lived in one apartment building with their own floor/ unit. I heard it was common in the Philippines. But from my observation, only the rich lived like that. Is that correct?
In the picture below is the uncle of my friend and his daughters. He did the engineering on the complex while his brother did the architecture and design. Unc was funny though, always trying to offer us beer in the middle of the day.
Another observation I made was that Manila was not the safest place, but to be honest where is? Maybe Japan is the final frontier. I observed many houses grilled up with fences tall and fitted with barbed wire or broken bottles. Never a good sign, reminds me of Jamaica 😄. My Japanese friend wanted to take a walk around the neighbourhood to which our host said "NO!", not just him but his mom as well, a big FAT "NO!". I understood completely but Japanese are a bit naive when it comes to how serious shit can be in these streets.
Just recently two Japanese guys were shot dead as they exited a taxi in Manila. Their belongings were taken and the CCTV footage has been making its rounds on social media. When I saw the footage I thought it must be a set up or hit man because why would they kill them? They could show the gun and just take the money and smartphones but I guess there is no time for that in Manila. Why hassle and shout when you can shoot them in the head and take what you want. Sad world, RIP to those two guys!
The most unpleasant thing that happened to me in the Philippine was probably the shitz, all the bacteria my stomach wasn't used had me with the shitz for two weeks after I left Manila, but I guess it was worth it. Damn the pic below even looks like I am taking a shit. I believe the Ghetto Chinese food we had in Manila China town was what broke my stomach completely. 😆
One of the most interesting moments for me in Manila was meeting up with my teen-hood friend. I hadn't seen him in over 18 years but he hasn't changed a bit. He has recently been on an Asia tour and planned to meet up with me in Manila. Before that he was in Vietnam, prior to that, Thailand. He came to Japan recently but thought it sucked and the people were too cold and boring so he left for Hawaii, what a life. I sometimes wonder how he has all that cash to travel around while not working and then I remembered, I sold him onto bitcoin and crypto and he literally threw everything into it.
Though the trip was short and money spent more than expected, I enjoyed Manila. The people are friendly, the food is good, chill vibes but net time I will definitely stay on the beach in Cebu or Boracay. One thing that surprised me though, Manila is not cheap, money and go fast if you aren't careful. I will definitely be back
Until next time BYE BYE PO. 😁
